{"id":912634,"date":"2026-06-14T10:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/nestory-irankunda-scores-australias-first-world-cup-goal-against-turkiye\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T10:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:12:34","slug":"nestory-irankunda-scores-australias-first-world-cup-goal-against-turkiye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/nestory-irankunda-scores-australias-first-world-cup-goal-against-turkiye\/","title":{"rendered":"Nestory Irankunda scores Australia\u2019s first World Cup goal against Turkiye"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Nestory Irankunda buried Australia\u2019s opening goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 14, finishing a counter-attack in the 27th minute against Turkiye in Vancouver. At 20 years old, he became the youngest player in Socceroos history to score at a World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The goal gave Australia a 1-0 lead in their Group D opener.<\/p>\n<h2>The goal and its context<\/h2>\n<p>Born on February 9, 2006, Irankunda was just 20 years and four months old when he found the net in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p>Before the tournament kicked off, Irankunda had already accumulated 14 senior caps and 5 goals for Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Tony Popovic named Irankunda to Australia\u2019s 26-man squad on May 31, 2026.<\/p>\n<h2>From Adelaide to Europe to the World Cup<\/h2>\n<p>Irankunda broke through at Adelaide United in Australia\u2019s A-League before Bayern Munich came calling. From Bayern, he moved to Grasshopper in Switzerland before landing at Watford in the English Championship.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 tournament marks Australia\u2019s first World Cup appearance since the competition expanded to 48 teams.<\/p>\n<h2>What this means for Australian football<\/h2>\n<p>Irankunda was born to Burundian refugee parents in Tanzania in 2006, making his 27th-minute finish in Vancouver a moment that carries weight beyond football statistics.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disclosure:<\/strong> This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/editorial-policy\/\">Editorial Policy<\/a>.\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/irankunda-australia-world-cup-goal-turkiye\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Editorial Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nestory Irankunda buried Australia\u2019s opening goal of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 14, finishing a counter-attack in the 27th minute against Turkiye in Vancouver. At 20 years old, he became the youngest player in Socceroos history to score at a World Cup. The goal gave Australia a 1-0 lead in their Group D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":912635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150229,150228],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-912634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-irankunda","category-nestory"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}